Rail anchor



g- 12, 1969 R. E. JOHNSON ETAL 3,460,755

RAIL ANCHOR Filed Feb. 9. 1968 RALPH E. JOHNSON ARTHUR D. VAN SANT I BY I Y ATTORNEY United States Patent US. Cl. 238-315 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rail anchor having a hook at one end and including an outwardly extending flange. An enlarged striking head is provided in the medial area of the hook and presents a striking face having a lateral dimension substantially greater than that of the anchor flange.

This invention relates generally to improvements in railway rail anchors, and more particularly to rail anchors of the type comprising a metal bar formed at one end with a hook adapted to be driven into expanded gripping engagement with the base portion of the rail and provided also with a relatively wide depending flange or rib adapted to abut against an adjacent cross tie to resist lengthwise creeping movement of the rail.

The hook of the above described type of rail anchor provides a pair of spaced apart clamping or jaw surfaces and is precision formed to fit the progressively increasing thickness of a conventional rail base flange at a prescribed location and to exert a strong resilient grip thereon, but it has a moderate limit of elasticity. Therefore, it is most important that the anchor be so applied as to distribute the flexing stresses around the entire bend of the hook and thereby avoid bending the metal beyond its elastic limits at any localized area.

In order to correctly apply such an anchor, it is customary to apply a sharp driving force to the outer portion of the curved hook area of the anchor. The foregoing is accomplished by two means, namely, either a track mawl which is manually operated, or a rail anchor applying machine. In either case, it is necessary to properly control the application of this driving force to the outer edge of the hook portion of the anchor so that when the blow is applied the force of the blow will be directed so as to concentrate the applying forces in a direction which compels such force to be exerted in a plane parallel to the plane of the under-rail portion and in a direction of the horizontal axis of the hook. Failure to control this application of force will result in excessive distortion of the hook relative to said under-rail portion. For example, when the impact force is applied too high on the upper surface of the hook, there is a pronounced tendency to spread or open the hook beyond the elastic limit of the metal thereof, thereby giving the hook a permanent set which reduces its resilient grip on the rail flange.

Eflorts have been made in the past to overcome the critical stages attendant with the application of a rail anchor of the present type by the provision of an overdrive stop formed on the inner curved surface of the hook, and also by providing a flattened area which presents a vertical planar surface on the outer periphery of the hook portion, which surface is designed to serve as a target for the operator of the track mawl or the driving member of a rail anchor applying machine. It has been found, however, that a less than fully skilled mawl operator or an improperly applied or adjusted rail anchor applying machine may result in an incorrectly applied rail anchor or even a damaged or weakened rail anchor due to misdirected blows being applied to the relatively narrow or thin rib or flange which heretofore has received the entire force of the applying blow, which force must be fully absorbed by this rib and must be accurately transmitted to the central horizontal axis of the rail anchor hook in order to correctly apply the rail anchor.

Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide an improved rail anchor having a novel striking face or target presenting a central or longitudinal axis parallel to the seat of the rail anchor.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rail anchor having a hook at one end thereof and including a tie abutting flange extending the length of the anchor, and wherein said flange in the area of said hook includes a striking head presenting an end face of a lateral dimension substantially greater than that of the remainder of the flange.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a rail anchor of the hook jaw type comprising a T-section body having a central outwardly extending flange depending from a pair of lateral arms and including a striking head disposed intermediate the upper and lower jaws of the hook and extending from the outer edge of the flange to said lateral arms.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a rail anchor of the hook jaw type having a striking head disposed intermediate the upper and lower jaws of the hook and including means facilitating the handling of the rail anchor during transportation and during applicatio to a rail by means of a rail anchor applying machine.

With these and other objects in view, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangemet of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the rail anchor according to the present invention as applied to the base portion of a railroad rail.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the rail anchor of FIGURE 1 in position adjacent a rail supporting structure.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of a modification of the present invention.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of another modification of the present invention.

FIGURE 5 is an end elevation of the rail anchor as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, particularly FIGURE 1, the improved rail anchor according to the present invention is generally designated 1 and is illustrated in this figure in the applied condition, wherein it will be seen that the opposite end portions of the rail anchor engage the diverging flanges of the base 2 of the railroad rail generally designated 3.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the rail base is positioned upon a conventional supporting structure comprising a tieplate 4 positioned on the top surface ofa cross tie 5 adapted to be embedded in the usual ballast of the roadbed. The tie-plate 4 is provided with spaced apart shoulders 6-6 defining a seat for the rail base 2 and providing a lateral abutment for each vertical edge 77 of the rail base. The tie-plate 4 is secured to the cross tie 5 by means of spikes 8, the heads of which overlie the marginal portions of the rail base 2 with a slight clearance. This clearance permits a nominal vertical movement of the rail relative to the tie-plate in response to the vertical wave movements of the rail, without imparting pumping movements to the cross tie 5 in the ballast of the roadbed. This wave movement of the rail is created principally by the rolling load of a train of cars moving along a trackway supported on spaced apart cross ties 5.

The rail anchor 1 comprises an element of unitary construction preferably formed of steel and although any suitable method of manufacture may be employed the preferred method is casting, in view of the specific nature of the present invention. The rail anchor is of substantially T-shape in cross section and comprises a vertical rib or flange 9 which intersects a pair of lateral arms 10-10. As shown most clearly in FIGURE 1, the anchor includes a horizontal base section 11 which is provided at one end with an upwardly curved hook 12 and includes at the opposite end a short vertically extending locking shoulder 13. The upper surface of the lateral arms 10'10 forming the top of the horizonal base section 11 provides a planar seat or platform 14 adapted to contact the undersurface of the rail base 2 when the anchor is applied, as in this figure. The hook 12 includes an upper jaw 15 which cooperates with a lower jaw 16 actually comprising an extension of the platform 14 and between which one of the flanges of the rail base 2 is positioned as the upper jaw 15 of the hook 12 is expanded into gripping engagement with the top surface of the rail base 2.

A horizontal elongated strapping slot 17 is provided through the tie abutting flange 9 in the medial portion of the base section 11 immediately below the undersurface of the lateral arms 1ll10 for reasons which will be understood hereinafter. The primary improvement oifered by the present invention includes a unique sriking head, generally designated 18, located in the medial portion of the hook 12 of the rail anchor. This striking head 18 comprises an enlarged body of metal formed integrally with the juxtaposed material of the rib 9 at the time of manufacture of the rail anchor, and includes at the outer edge thereof a striking face or surface 19 comprising a planar surface substantially vertically disposed in a plane whose central perpendicular axis, if extended inwardly toward the locking shoulder 13 of the rail anchor, will be disposed parallel to the platform 14 of the base section 11 of the anchor. From the standpoint of ease of casting of the rail anchor, the striking face 19 is preferably circular, as shown in the end elevation of FIGURE 5, although it will be understood that any other suitable configuration may be provided according to the present invention.

Although any suitable casting arrangement may be practiced in the manufacture of the present invention, it will be appreciated that the subject striking head lends itself to production in molds suitable for casting multiple anchors wherein the cut-off sprue for each cast anchor is coincidental with the striking face 19.

Again referring to FIGURE 5, it will be seen that the lateral dimension or thickness of the striking face 19 is substantially greater than the corresponding lateral thickness of the rib or flange 9. Another important feature of the striking head 18 is the extension of this body of material from the outer edge 12a of the hook portion of the anchor to the inner edges 10a of the extensions of the lateral arms 10'-10.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 1, 2 and 5, the body of the striking head 18 will be seen to comprise a modified conical shape wherein the side walls 20 thereof provide a vertically curved and longitudinally and inwardly inclined surface on each side of the juxtaposed rib or flange 9. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 4 the side walls 21 provide a striking head of a truncated conical configuration, while the striking head disclosed in the embodiment of FIGURE 3 is provided by straight cylindrical side walls 22. The important feature present in all embodiments of the present invention is the provision of a striking face having a lateral dimension substantially greater than that of the juxtaposed outer edge 12a of the vertical rib 9, which striking face is reinforced at the rear thereof by a striking head body, the lateral or transverse dimension of which again substantially exceeds that of the underlying rib 9 in order to provide not only a greatly enlarged target or striking face 19 for the hand operated mawl or rail anchor applying machine, but also a greatly All.

increased reinforcement and improved transmission of driving force by means of extension of the integral metal of the striking face all the way to the lateral arms 10-1t') in the area of the hook 12. As previously described, the central axis of the striking head 18 extends through the hook 12 toward the locking shoulder 13 in a plane substantially parallel to the seat 14 of the anchor, and as will be clearly seen from FIGURE 1 of the drawing, this central axis bisects the vertical edges 7 of the rail base 2 when the anchor is fully applied.

The aforementioned strapping slot 17 serves two purposes. During shipment of the rail anchors steel bands may be passed through a plurality of slots 17 of laterally abutting anchors and secured to provide ease and compactness in handling. Also, in the case of anchors being applied by machine, a group of strapped anchors may be handled as a single package in the nature of a magazine of anchors for rapid feeding into the machine.

We claim:

1. A rail anchor comprising a unitary body including a horizontal base section having an upper platform adapted to engage the undersurface of a rail base and having at one end a vertical locking shoulder and at the other end an upwardly and inwardly extending hook section, a vertically disposed and outwardly projecting flange extending from said shoulder to the free end of said hook section, an arm extending laterally from each side of said body at the edge of said flange juxtaposed said rail base, said arms continuing throughout the inner edge of said hook section, the lateral thickness of said flange substantially less than the lateral extent of said arms, said flange in the intermediate area of said hook section including a striking head, said head provided with a planar and substantially vertically disposed striking face adjacent the outer edge of said hook section, said head including an enlarged side wall projecting outwardly from each side of said flange and extending inwardly from said striking face towards said lateral arms, the lateral dimension of said striking face substantially greater than the lateral thickness of said subjacent flange of said hook section, and the longitudinal axis of said striking head from said striking face toward said lateral arms is substantially parallel to said upper platform.

2. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein said striking face is flush with the contiguous outer edge of said hook section.

3. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein the lateral dimension of said striking face is intermediate the lateral thickness of the subjacent flange and the lateral extent of the arms.

4. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein each said side wall is vertically curved.

5. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein each said side wall is longitudinally inclined.

6. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein said striking head comprises a cylindrical body the longitudinal axis of which is parallel to the top of said horizontal base section.

7. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein said striking head comprises a truncated conical body the longitudinal axis of which is parallel to the top of said horizontal base section.

8. A rail anchor according to claim 1, wherein said horizonal base section includes an elongated slot through the flange thereof disposed below said lateral arms.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,451,127 10/1948 Tarwater 2383l5.5 2,549,527 4/1951 Ruppert 238-32l 3,240,429 3/1966 Spencer 23 83 15 3,358,926 12/1967 Blackford 238-32l ARTHUR L. LAPOINT, Primary Examiner RICHARD A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner 

